| rajendra |
Posted
on 09-Jan-01 12:24 PM
As the following newsitem suggests, are we now going to see serious armed conflict in Nepal, potentially leading to an all-out civil war?? While a cease-fire was agreed upon recently in Sri Lanka, it seems like we are seeing the beginning of another "fire" in South Asia.
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Nepal to raise 'armed police force' to counter Maoists
.c Kyodo News Service
KATHMANDU, Jan. 9 (Kyodo) - King Birendra has given the go-ahead to a Nepalese government plan to raise an armed police force to combat the Maoist insurgency wracking the Himalayan kingdom, newspaper reports said Tuesday.
More than 1,600 people have lost their lives since the underground Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) began its ''people's war'' in mid-western Nepal nearly six years ago.
The Maoists want to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy and replace it what they call as the ''new people's democracy.''
The government's move to raise the armed police unit came after it set up special courts to look into insurgency-related cases.
For their part, the Maoists claim they have reaped tremendous success and even announced a government of their own in the Rukum district of mid-western Nepal.
The government has deployed its regular police force to fight the Maoists so far but with very limited success.
mprise 15,000 personnel drawn from the regular police force and the Nepalese army and will be armed with modern, sophisticated weapons.
It will be used to deal with armed insurrection, terrorist activities and religious and communal riots, an ordinance issued by the royal palace said.
Parliament, where the ruling Nepali Congress Party has the majority, is expected to approve the ordinance in its next session.
Opposition parties have, however, fiercely criticized the move.
''We think this is going to create more problems and cause more bloodshed, far more than it is likely to check the insurgency,'' the left-leaning weekly newspaper Dristi said Tuesday.
The opposition and Nepalese human rights groups have called on the government to tackle the Maoist insurgency through dialogue, not armed confrontation.
AP-NY-01-09-01 0223EST
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